Description

How far would you go to find yourself? The lyrical, life-affirming new novel from the bestselling author of Private Peaceful

There were dozens of us on the ship, all ages, boys and girls, and we were all up on deck for the leaving of Liverpool, gulls wheeling and crying over our heads, calling good-bye, I thought they were waving good-bye. None of us spoke. It was a grey day with drizzle in the air, the great sad cranes bowing to the ship from the docks as we steamed past. That is all I remember of England…

When orphaned Arthur Hobhouse is shipped to Australia after WWII he loses his sister, his country and everything he knows. The coming years will test him to his limits, as he endures mistreatment, neglect and forced labour in the Australian outback. But Arthur is also saved, again and again, by his love of the sea. And when he meets a nurse whose father owns a boat-building business, all the pieces of his broken life come together.

Now, at the end of his life, Arthur has built a special boat for his daughter Allie, whose love of the sea is as strong and as vital as her father’s. Now Allie has a boat that will take her to England solo, across the world’s roughest seas, in search of her father’s long-lost sister… Will the threads of Arthur’s life finally come together? –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“Lyrical and moving, it is one of the former Children’s Laureate’s best books for years.” Amanda Craig, The Times

“His best book in years… I was completely hooked.” Kate Kellaway, The Observer Review

“Incredibly moving, harrowing and completely unputdownable. A first class story that brings history alive.” My Child magazine

“Completely unputdownable.” Families Magazine –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

‘There were dozens of us on the ship, boys and girls. We were off to Australia. But it might as well have been the moon.’

Orphaned in WWII, Arthur is separated from his sister and sent to the other side of the world. There his extraordinary journey continues as he and his friend Marty survive brutal captivity on a working farm, find a new family with the eccentric Aunty Meg and her animals, and discover their talent for designing yachts.

Sixty years later, Arthur’s daughter Allie sets sail single-handed in a yacht designed by her father, determined to find his long-lost sister in England. Can family love stretch across time and the vastness of the oceans? And will the threads of Arthur’s life finally come together? –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.